It's regular old racism, not ‘Hinduphobia'

Al Jazeera

27-02-2025

It's been an awkward few months for Hindu nationalists who have been eagerly awaiting Trump's return to the White House.
There have been a few wins.
Strategic and defence ties between India and the US seem stable for now, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the White House. Modi claimed that like Trump's quest to 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA), he too strived to 'Make India Great Again' (MIGA). He added, 'When America and India work together, when it's MAGA plus MIGA, it becomes mega – a mega partnership for prosperity.'
Kash Patel has been confirmed to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Born to Gujarati parents, he has been vocal about his Hindu identity and even voiced support for the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya in 2024, on the ruins of a 16th-century mosque demolished by a Hindu nationalist mob back in 1992.
Yet Trump's return has also exposed an underbelly of anti-Indian racism in the MAGA-verse.
In late December, an apparent 'civil war' broke out in the MAGA-verse and Indian Americans were at the centre of it. The trigger was Donald Trump's appointment of Indian American venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as senior policy adviser to the White House for Artificial Intelligence (AI). Krishnan's appointment coincided with MAGA debates over the H1B visa scheme that brings skilled foreign workers to the US. Many in Trump's camp have long insisted that its beneficiaries – mostly Indians – undercut the American workforce.
Many Trump loyalists, like 'far-right provocateur' Laura Loomer, were outraged at the appointment. Loomer posted on X: 'It's alarming to see the number of career leftists who are now being appointed to serve in Trump's admin when they share views that are in direct opposition to Trump's America First agenda.'
A MAGA fan posted on X that people like Krishnan view 'Western nations as economic zones and nothing more' and have 'no business holding positions of power in the American government'. Another agreed and urged President Trump and Vice President Vance to instead 'interview American-born Tech Workers and get their opinion!'
More recently, a staff member of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Marko Elez, was forced to resign when he was linked to racist social media posts. One of his posts read, 'Normalize Indian hate'. Yet, Vice President JD Vance, whose wife and mother of his children is a daughter of Indian immigrants, called for him to be hired back. He said that while he disagreed with Elez's posts, he didn't think that 'stupid social media activity should ruin a kid's life'. President Trump agreed with his vice president and Elez was rehired.
All of this is not surprising.
Racism and xenophobia have been a central pillar of Trump's 'America First' policy. His targets have been undocumented migrants arriving from America's southern borders; refugees and migrants from Muslim-majority countries like Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen; and immigrants from what he termed as 's***hole countries' in Africa and from Haiti and El Salvador entering the US through the 'visa lottery system'. Why can't the US 'have more immigrants from Norway'? Trump wondered.
So, it's hardly out of order that MAGA loyalists – who have been promised a draconian crackdown on immigration in Trump's second term – seem to be uncomfortable with a foreign-born, brown-skinned executive, who has advocated for raising country caps on green cards, in the White House. After all, in their eyes, Krishnan epitomises the old trope of the insidious foreigner taking jobs that belong to honest, hardworking Americans.
But rather than calling it racism, Hindu groups are crying 'Hinduphobia'! Why?
In part, it's because Trump's racism and xenophobia are what Hindu groups have long endorsed. In general, they view Trump as 'good for business' when it comes to Hindu nationalist politics.
Trump and Modi have indeed nurtured a longstanding bromance. But Hindu groups' endorsement of Trump is not just about this affinity between the two leaders. It's about values.
Trump's disdain for DEI policies and affirmative action jibes well with Hindu nationalists' disdain for any liberal talk of anti-Caste discrimination, affirmative action or legislation protecting the rights of marginalised communities, be it at home in India or the diaspora. The MAGA brand of Islamophobia is also one that Hindu nationalists can get behind. After all, violence and discrimination against India's Muslims have been a marquee feature of the Modi-led Hindu nationalist brand of governance.
Similarly, Trump's xenophobia wasn't seen as incompatible with Hindu nationalist talking points. For them, the demonisation of undocumented migrants or the securitisation of Muslim immigrants only reinforced the characterisation of Indian Hindus in the US as the 'model migrant' who contribute positively to the US economy and society.
But this turning of the tide against the model Indian immigrant was not something they had planned for. They had endorsed Trump's racism and xenophobia, hoping it would conveniently spare them as the exception.
So, unable to call it racism – lest this exposes the hypocrisy of their endorsement of Trump – Hindu groups are crying 'Hinduphobia'.
The politics surrounding the charge of 'Hinduphobia' in this context are highly problematic.
Violence and discrimination are indeed a reality for Hindus in many places in the world. However, arguing that the attacks on Krishnan and the MAGA-verse's outrage over the H1B visa scheme is an outgrowth of systemic discrimination against Hindus is inaccurate.
In fact, a recent study by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate reveals that while social media platforms like X were indeed rife with 'anti-Indian hatred against Indians and Indian-Americans', these attacks were 'not exclusively aimed at Hindus'. Rather, they targeted 'everyone perceived to be of Indian origin' which includes Sikhs. More generally, according to the FBI's hate crime statistics, Hindus are one of the least targeted religious groups in the country.
Nonetheless, the charge of 'Hinduphobia' – one that has been 'popularised among Hindu nationalist groups in the United States' – serves a political agenda in two ways.
For one thing, it feeds into the longstanding Hindu nationalist claim that Indian-ness is synonymous with Hinduism. This argument purposefully overlooks the diversity of religious and ethnic identities that make up the sociocultural fabric of India.
It also falsely paints Hindus as a systemically marginalised group – a claim that is then weaponised against academics and activists who criticise Hindu nationalist politics, often leading to death and rape threats against such individuals and their families. It is also used to evade and delegitimize any criticism of caste discrimination in India or the diaspora and Hindu nationalist hate speech and violence against Indian Muslims and Christians.
Unfortunately, the vocabulary of 'Hinduphobia' is not just a talk-point of Hindu nationalist groups. It may soon become legislation. Congressman Shri Thanedar introduced a resolution in April 2024 that celebrates Hindu contributions to the US and condemns 'Hinduphobia, and anti-Hindu bigotry'. A year before that the Georgia Assembly also passed a resolution condemning Hinduphobia.
Under Trump 2.0, racism, bigotry and discrimination will be an incessant feature of everyday life and politics. And false claims of 'Hinduphobia' only distract us from the real suffering of the country's marginalised communities.